Tossing game piece



May 9, 1950 c. A. SHAFFER TOSSING GAME PIECE Filed Jan. 20, 1948 FIG.

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Patented May 9, 1 950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TOSSING GAME PIECEClifford A. Shaffer, Freeport, 11].

Application January 20, 1948, Serial No. 3,240

This invention relates in general to a game piece of the fabric filledtype and is more particularly described as a filled shoe for the game ofhorseshoe and similar tossing games.

An important object of the invention is to provide a filled game piecewhich although made of fabric and filled with a limp material will stillmaintain its desired shape, contour and appearance.

A further object of the invention is to provide a shoe, ring, or similarobject which upon landing will minimize the rolling, bouncing, orskidding movement so that the game may be played with safety tosurrounding furniture, players, and equipment.

A further object of the invention is to provide an inner stiffener for afilled fabric game piece which will assist in maintaining it in propershape and form.

Other objects of the invention will appear in the specification and willbe apparent from the accompanying drawing in which,

Fig. l is a side elevation of a game piece in accordance with thisinvention having one end broken away to show a granular filler and awire stiffening form;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. l; and

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1 but omittingthe granular filler.

The ordinary game of horseshoe is an outdoor game played with metalhorseshoes, but it is a popular game and may also be played indoors if asuitable game piece is provided for playing it. A fabric game piece,stuffed with granular material such as sand, grain, or even materialsuch as beans or metal shot soon becomes of little value because thematerial tends to bunch or collect at one location and to escape from orflatten out at another location.

The present invention provides a shaped piece such as a ring, ahorseshoe, or a U-shaped member to which any suitable granular or otherfiller is applied and also supplements the game piece with a stiffeningform located at the outer and inner edges so that the sides bulgeoutwardly therefrom, providing a bean bag type of game piece which maybe cast or thrown as desired without special damage to furniture if itshould happen to contact therewith, and having the granular deadeningaction of such a game piece because of the filling material, but also atthe same time having the stiffening form which main- 5 Claims. (Cl.273106) tains the fabric'holder in proper shape and form.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, a cover it] of anydesired shape is formed of fabric, leather, plastic, or any othersuitable material, and it may be cut and sewn with stitches I 2 to giveit the desired shape and form. The outer surface of the cover may becoated with rubber or a plastic to reduce or minimize any skid ormovement upon landing within a given landing area.

A portion of the cover is left open for the insertion of a distendingwire stifiening form I 4 which is inserted therein and preferably fitsthe inner and outer contour of the game piece when it is distended. Thecover is distended by granular filler is so that the sides bulgeoutwardly from the wire stiffening form at the inner and outer edgesthereof. When the cover is completely filled, the filling opening isclosed by stitches l8 or by sealing the cover in any other suitablemanner.

With this construction, a bean bag type of game piece is provided whichwill maintain its shape at all times, it will have the proper stiffness,but the surface will also be pliable and resilient so that upon landing,the game piece will not have any excessive bounce and rolling orskidding will be minimized.

In a horseshoe type of game piece, the wire stiffening form may becontinuous; in other shapes, the stiffening form may also be continuousand if applied to a ring type of game piece, inner and outer rings maybe connected at one or more points by cross-pieces within the granularmaterial.

While I have thus described my invention in some detail, it should beregarded as an example or illustration rather than a limitation orrestriction of the invention, since various changes in the construction,combination and arrangement of the parts may be made without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. A U-shaped game piece, comprising a flexible cover of predeterminedshape, a filler of granular material to bulge the sides of the coveroutwardly, and a wire stiffening form extending continuously around theinside and outside edges within the cover and operative to maintain thefabric in its predetermined shape and form.

2. A U-shaped horseshoe game piece composed of flexible fabric, agranular filling for distending the cover, and a continuous U-shapedwire stifiening form with rounded ends adapted to fit at the inside andoutside edges of the fabric to maintain the horseshoe shape and form.

3. In a bean bag type of game piece, a flexible hollow U-shaped cover, adistending filler therefor, and a stifiening form having inner and outersides and rounded ends adapted to fit within the cover to maintain thecover in its intended shape.

4. A horseshoe game piece, comprising a U-shape cover having a fillingopening at the rounded end, a stiffening form comprisinga continuousU-shaped wire with rounded ends and spaced sides insertable within thecover through the opening and engaging the inner and outeredges of thecover, a filler for the cover: inserted,

through the opening and bulging the sides of the cover outwardly fromthe inner and-outer edges, and means for closing the fillingyopening ofthe cover.

5. A bean bag type of game piece, comprising a U-shaped hollow cover.having an outer antiskid' coating, a filler ofinert materiaLfordistendr ing the cover to bulge outwardly at the sides and a stiffeningform of continuous wire in the shape of a hollow rounded U adapted tofit in the cover to assist in maintaining the cover in its intendedshape.

CLIFFORD A. SHAFFER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the fil'e ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

